The Effects of Reading Medium on Reading Comprehension Connor Geary1 Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota The modern student often has access to both hard-copy and electronic versions of their course reading material. The literature suggests that there is no large difference in retention between hard-copy and electronic materials, yet little has been done to assess whether reading medium has an impact on the comprehension of a topic. The purpose of the current study is to examine the effects of reading medium on reading comprehension. Participants were given a short poem to read and then asked a series of questions used to measure reading comprehension. Consistent with previous research, the present study found no difference in comprehension between the two reading mediums. Pages: 7-9

Recently, academia has undergone a major shift toward incorporating electronic versions of course material (e.g., e-textbooks). This has been especially true for college students at both undergraduate and graduate levels (Spencer, 2006). Many university students find the ease of access, lower cost, and better portability offered by online versions of their texts much more appealing than print copies. Understanding how electronic reading affects learning would allow universities to better tailor resources to students, potentially moving towards prioritizing electronic mediums. Reading on an electronic medium, or simply electronic reading, is often defined as reading from an e-book either on a computer or laptop, or on a device specifically made for reading e-books (e.g., Amazon Kindle). These devices are common on college campuses and therefore allow for easy integration of e-books in a student’s academic schedule. Moreover, Ziming (2005) found that readers who began using electronic mediums earlier in life were more likely to develop reading behaviors which were better adapted to electronic mediums, (i.e., screen reading), and were better able to utilize those formats than students who started to use electronic formats later in life. The effects of electronic mediums on student learning still are not well understood. Mangen (2008) argued that electronic mediums lead to more ‘skimming’ rather than Connor Geary is a senior in the College of Liberal Arts. He will receive is B.A. in Psychology in May 2017. His research areas include Social Psychology and Educational Psychology. He plans to pursue postgraduate studies in Education and Public Policy. 1

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comprehension of the material. The argument focuses largely on theories of reading which incorporate the importance of dexterity and tangibility of the reading medium. Essentially, Mangen argues that electronic mediums facilitate skimming due to the lack of tactile feedback offered by traditional reading mediums (i.e., flipping pages allows for pausing). Skimming speeds up reading time and allows students to pick out key pieces of information; however, their overall comprehension of the material suffers. Dyson and Haselgrove (2000) looked more closely at how reading speed and skimming affect recall and comprehension. Participants were given electronic copies of magazine articles and then asked both open-ended and closeended questions. The open-ended questions were aimed at assessing comprehension of the article’s material while the close-ended questions aimed to test factual recall about the articles. Participants performed worse on close-ended questions, but they seemed to perform better on open-ended questions when skimming. The best explanation they found for participant’s better performance on open-ended questions was the amount of time spent pausing between scrolling; participants who paused more often performed better overall, while those who paused less ended up seeing a reduction in their close-ended scores. The results from Dyson and Haselgrove demonstrate that while skimming does affect comprehension when reading electronically, as theorized by Mangen, the impact may not be negative. While many have focused on skimming as having either a negative or at best neutral effect on student learning, other research has examined how accessing online reading

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sources may increase the cognitive load on students (Eveland & Dunwoody, 2001). Cognitive load here refers to the strain put on the brain in complex or unintuitive situations. Cognitive load appears to increase with electronic mediums which could lead to disorientation. Eveland and Dunwoody attribute this largely to potential differences in formatting between hard-copy and electronic mediums. Further, they point to difficulties in navigating to electronic sources (e.g., navigating a complex website to obtain an electronic source). While this disorientation may not affect overall retention of simple factual material, it does appear to impact overall understanding of the material, hampering comprehension. Much of the research that has been done to understand any differences in learning between hard-copy and electronic reading mediums has been done when electronic reading was still in its infancy; therefore, it is possible that some of the differences in learning outcomes may simply have been because the technology needed more time to develop. Handahl (2014) offers a more contemporary examination. Handahl found that there was no significant difference in retention abilities between print and electronic mediums, suggesting that perhaps the best way to explain earlier discrepancies between print and electronic mediums on learning was a technological gap rather than a learning mechanism. However, two things have yet to be adequately examined by the current body of research thus far. First, much of the current research focuses largely on retention and understanding of non-fiction sources, meaning that the effect of reading mediums on fictional sources, common in the humanities, have been largely unstudied. Second, and related to the first, a large portion of the available data examines only retention of facts, rather than deeper understanding of the material, such as underlying themes or motives of the piece of work. Given this gap in the current research and the wellestablished phenomenon of skimming in electronic formats, we predict that when given fictional reading materials, students who use electronic reading mediums will perform worse than students given print mediums. To test this hypothesis, students will be given the same excerpt of a piece of fictional literature, randomly assigned either a print or electronic copy, and given a short test aimed to measure deeper-level comprehension of the material. METHOD Participants Thirteen Midwestern college students participated in this study. Demographic information was not collected from participants and participants were not compensated for their participation. Materials Participants took our survey at a desktop computer. The poem that the participants read was Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson, which is free to use and available online as it is in the public domain. The survey questions were created by

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Geary

adapting discussions of the poem Ulysses from Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense (Arp, 2016). The survey was administered through Qualtrics. Examples of the follow-up questions used are located in the Appendix. Procedure Participants were brought into one of two computer rooms and then provided the online survey. Once they began the survey, participants were randomly sorted to one of two treatments. In the first treatment, participants were given paper copies of the poem. In the second treatment, participants were shown an electronic copy on their computers. Both treatments were then told to read the poem thoroughly. Once they had completed the reading, they were then assigned a computerized quiz which consisted of five multiple choice questions. These questions were focused on measuring comprehension, such as the theme of the poem, rather than the retention of simple facts. RESULTS The number of questions answered correctly was taken as the reading comprehension score for each subject. Analyses showed that those who read paper copies (M = 2.25, SD = 1.165) and those who read electronic copies (M = 2.4, SD = 1.517) did not differ significantly in their reading comprehension quiz scores, t(11) = -0.202, p = 0.844. DISCUSSION We hypothesized electronic reading medium would negatively impact reading comprehension; however, the results support the more recent research conclusions that reading medium does not affect reading comprehension, as we failed to find a significant difference between reading mediums. Overall, the literature represents a change in findings over the last three decades. Earlier research from the late 1980s through the early 2000s suggested that reading medium may play an important role in student comprehension and retention (Dyson & Haselgrove, 2000; Eveland & Dunwoody, 2001). However, more recent findings suggest that these differences may no longer be significant (Ziming, 2005; Handahl, 2014). The shift in findings can most likely be attributed to several factors. Firstly, technology has advanced in the past three decades. Computers have become smaller and, in many cases, more mobile. Computer screens are now made to limit eye strain from long-time use, which can occur when reading for a long period of time on a computer screen. Moreover, dedicated reading devices have been created, like the Amazon Kindle, which are explicitly designed for reading e-books. Lastly, touchscreens have become commonplace on many of these devices which may alleviate Mangen’s (2008) concerns about reduced tactile engagement with reading, perhaps offering us a lens through which we can explain why the proposed ‘skimming’ effect does not hinder comprehension. Furthermore, Ziming (2005) found that the earlier that a person is exposed to and uses technology, the better they will

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APPENDIX be able to gather and retain information from electronic mediums. While subjects in earlier studies had less lifelong experience with technology, the subjects of more recent studies have grown up using technology, likely beginning in kindergarten or earlier. Again, this helps explain why more recent research fails to find significant differences in retention and comprehension between hard-copy and electronic reading mediums. There are a few limitations of the current study, the most notable of which is the small number of participants This study lacks power and, therefore, any findings must be interpreted with caution. Secondly, Ulysses, the piece of work analyzed by the participants in this study, was likely more difficult than desirable for a group of undergraduate students without significant backgrounds in English literature. This may have made the entire quiz too difficult, limiting detection of any significant difference between the two groups. Finally, the reading comprehension test which was administered to participants may also lead to problems in interpreting our data. The test was constructed by adapting longer discussion sections in Perrine’s Literature, Structure, Sound¸ and Sense about Ulysses. The quiz questions were constructed by pulling elements from the discussion questions that we thought assessed deeper levels of comprehension (e.g., theme or motive). However, since the questions were generated from material which was not itself a quiz, the questions may not accurately measure reading comprehension. Future research should attempt to use larger samples. It is also important to find cross-generational samples in order in order to test whether theories of technological familiarity actually explain the differences in comprehension found between generations. Finally, further research should attempt to create and use tests which have been shown to be valid and reliable at measuring reading comprehension. CONCLUSION This current study found no significant difference between a hard-copy or electronic copy of text on reading comprehension. This is in line with recent research conducted which seems to indicate that while earlier studies detected differences on reading retention and comprehension, more recent studies find no such difference. These findings are likely due to advancements in technology and increased familiarity with technology in general. This research topic is important for educators and students who are concerned about potential differences in performance between paper and electronic reading mediums given the increasing prevalence of online textbooks and course materials. In our view, the findings suggest that the current generation is better prepared and equipped to handle the shift from predominantly paper course materials to electronic resources.

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Quiz Questions: 1) The poem can be split into 3 different parts depending on who Ulysses’s is addressing. Who are the 3 people and in which order are they addressed? A) His wife; His son; Himself. B) Himself; His son; His old Mariners. C) His son; His kingdom; His wife. D) All of the sections are addressing himself. 2) Which analogy would best describes Ulysses view of life? A) As a battle. B) As a boat. C) As a journey. D) As an island. 3) Which of the following best describe the first section of the poem? A) Yearning for days long past. B) Advice on how to rule a kingdom. C) A retelling of his life. D) Reasons why one needs to travel. 4) Which best describes how Ulysses would characterize old age? A) Old age allows you time to rest. B) Old age makes one proud of their life. C) Old age makes one more appreciative of their family. D) Old age makes you feel weak and useless. 5) Overall, which of the following sentences best characterizes the theme of the poem? A) Life is an adventure, and no matter how old you are you can still seek out adventure and do good. B) Life is ultimately futile, no matter how much you achieve it will never feel like it was enough. C) Life is good, but old age is what gives life meaning. D) Life is all about ruling well as a king and being good to one’s family.

REFERENCES Arp, T.R. (2016). Perrine's literature: structure, sound, and sense with 2016 mla update card. Place of publication not identified: Wadsworth. Dyson, M., & Haselgrove, M. (2000). The effects of reading speed and reading patterns on the understanding of text read from screen. Journal of Research in Reading, 23, 210–223. https://doi.org/10.1111/14679817.00115 Eveland, W.P., & Dunwoody, S. (2001). User Control and Structural Isomorphism or Disorientation and Cognitive Load? Learning From the Web Versus Print. Communication Research, 28, 48–78. https://doi.org /10.1177/009365001028001002 Handahl, Q. (2014). The Effects of Reading a Book in an Electronic Format or in a Printed Format on a Student’s Retention Abilities. Sentience, 9(Spring), 7–10. Mangen, A. (2008). Hypertext fiction reading: haptics and immersion. Journal of Research in Reading, 31, 404–419. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.14679817.2008.00380.x Spencer, C. (2006). Research on Learners’ Preferences for Reading From a Printed Text or From a Computer Screen. International Journal of ELearning & Distance Education, 21, 33–50. Ziming Liu. (2005). Reading behavior in the digital environment: Changes in reading behavior over the past ten years. Journal of Documentation, 61, 700–712. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410510632040

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